Record growth spawns record school bond issue

By Zeke MacCormack :
October 2, 2013

“Wow!” is a common voter reaction to the scale of the $451 million bond proposal by the Comal Independent School District, Superintendent Andrew Kim said.

But, he added, “After we talk about the facts and the reasons the long range planning committee came up with that number, in the end everybody sees the rationale.”

The fast-growing district's Nov. 5 ballot initiative is more than double its largest past bond issue, a $205.8 million package approved in 2008. Its size, and a lack of specifics on when new campuses will open, is drawing criticism.

Kim says the new facilities will be built on an as-needed basis, based on enrollment gains.

As a confidence-building measure, the school board is updating the district's contracting procedures. It dismissed the general contractor it hired last year, as well as its architect, drafting new criteria by which it will choose replacements.

“Our intent is to do everything we can to ensure trust within all of our systems, looking at them in the context of transparency, as well as checks and balances,” Kim said.

The proposed improvements, including up to six new schools, were seen as priorities among $600 million worth of projects by an advisory panel tasked with identifying facility needs for a 30,000-student district.

Comal ISD has nearly 20,000 students now and could hit 30,000 by 2023. It's the third-fastest-growing district in the San Antonio area behind Northside and North East ISDs.

“It could have been a lot higher than $451 million, but this meets our immediate needs,” said Greg Estes, who chaired the 60-member committee. “If $451 million is too much, what are we going to do with those children? They're coming and we have to provide a place for them to learn.”

Ex-panel member Larry Hull decried the proposal's lack of details. The school board adopted it in August.

“As a taxpayer, I'm not willing to turn over $451 million without a detailed business plan,” said Hull, who's leading a dozen bond opponents who plan to erect signs that say “CISD Bond No, James Bond Yes.”

Jerry Lovell, another former panel member, said the plan is out of step with the community's conservative values.

“The $451 million is too much and the costs for the individual schools are inflated,” Lovell said. “They're wanting $94 million for a high school, around $56 million for middle school and $26 million for elementaries.”

Estes called those costs “very competitive.”

A bond support group, Friends of Comal Public Schools, has raised more than $100,000 to push for its passage.

“Our high schools and middle schools are now at the trigger point where we have to start planning new schools,” said Kirk Kistner, head of the political action committee.

Much of the new residential development is occurring in the southern part of the 589-square-mile district that includes all or parts of Bulverde, Garden Ridge, Selma, Schertz, Spring Branch and New Braunfels.

“Our communities overwhelmingly have told us that, 'We want you to be very thoughtful and proactive about the growth, and not reactive.'” said Kim, who was hired in July 2012.

The spending plan includes two new high schools, two new middle schools and either a third middle school or two new elementary schools. One new middle/high school campus would go in Garden Ridge, the other on the west side of U.S. 281 in northern Bexar County.

If voters OK it, the bonds will likely be issued in $90 million increments, resulting in a tax rate hike expected not to exceed 7 cents per $100 valuation. The current tax rate is $1.43 per $100.

The district's taxable property totals $10.4 billion and is forecast to grow between 3 percent and 7 percent annually, an expansion that should allow it to staff and equip the new schools without increasing the tax rate, Kim said.

A defeat at the polls would force the district to use more portable classrooms and redraw attendance boundaries among its 28 campuses to accommodate growth. That could mean longer commutes for students in the district, where some bus trips already top an hour, Kistner said.

He's confident it won't come to that, noting, “I'm very optimistic about the passage of this bond election.”